Wishing on Europehttps://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu
Commentary by Elio Pennisi about the “hoped for” Economy and Politics of Europe with emphasis on the European Union and the individual Countries.Sun, 10 Sep 2017 15:31:15 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1Brexit? That missed long-term opportunity…https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/09/10/brexit-that-missed-long-term-opportunity/
https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/09/10/brexit-that-missed-long-term-opportunity/#commentsSun, 10 Sep 2017 15:31:15 +0000http://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/?p=308» read more]]>Suppose for a while that the UK would not have taken the route of a referendum to part with the European Union; how do you think this Country would have found itself in 7-10 years’ time vis-à-vis to the EU? Well, oddly enough it would have found itself – or very close to – the situation it is now struggling to arrange with Brussels, at no added cost and without substantial political tussle. Am I talking about Astrology? Not indeed, but political Astronomy may have something to do with be the subject of this essay.

Having set fire to art. 50, the UK has initiated a difficult task of distancing itself from the “regulatory shackles” of the European Union. Nevertheless, according to its Premier, Mrs May, the UK is keen to retain deep and meaningful relations with the EU. Having studied various possible formulae, it seems that the EFTA arrangement in operation between the EU and Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Lichtenstein would be more viable for future relations, albeit with “minor” exceptions to suit the Country’s peculiarities: no free movement of EU nationals and to be outside the CJEU.

Carl Baudenbacher, President of the EFTA Court, argues that Britain could use his court to resolve disputes.

Forgoing the consideration of detailed economic aspects of this hypothesis, the Country’s contribution to the EU would persist with a difference: the UK would not enjoy voting rights and, in principle, it should grant freedom of movement to EU citizens, although it may be debated if freedom of movement also implies employment rights.

An overlooked economic aspect is the added cost that the UK should bear in terms of added administrative personnel and technical structures to deal with non-EU Countries when closing and servicing future commercial agreements.

Another flawed credence is the feared unbearable load of immigration from the EU. Movement of people in search of employment within the EU (UK included) will necessitate a rethink of the whole social system sooner rather than later, due to the advancement of Artificial intelligence and Intelligent Robots, all going to replace large portions of low and medium skilled work.

In the meanwhile

The European Union is in the process of initiating an extended period of transformation whose objective is to make the bureaucratic machine slender and more effective. The intent is to leave the 27 members decide if, at what level and when they would be prepared to deepen their integration inside the Union. A core of Countries comprising Germany, France and a few more advanced economies would inaugurate a European Monetary Fund and other banking instruments to make the Euro more stable. A second layer would include other Eurozone members which, together with the core-group will share a proper Parliament with a dedicated budget. A third layer is expected to include non-Euro members who subscribe to the Internal Market, the Common Economic Area plus Customs Union. The problem of intra-EU purchasing-power differences (encouraging intra-EU emigration) will also be reviewed. The EU parliament, as it is now, would probably have less duties and it would morph into a body modelled as a European Trade Organisation.

The whole programme, in principle, is scheduled to begin toward half year 2018, will go through next EU elections of 2019, it would be ratified and implemented in the years following.

It must be conceded that the European Union’s future will not be smooth as glass and political skirmishes may easily ensue but, alas, the UK will not contribute to those scuffles. As I have anticipated, the political astronomical encounter between the UK and the EU will be missed by a mere 7-10 years; it is a big miss as it would have spared Britain substantial economic and political cost.

]]>https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/09/10/brexit-that-missed-long-term-opportunity/feed/1Artificial Intelligence, between Wonder and Pain.https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/07/06/artificial-intelligence-between-wonder-and-pain/
https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/07/06/artificial-intelligence-between-wonder-and-pain/#commentsThu, 06 Jul 2017 06:28:27 +0000http://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/?p=300» read more]]>A robot is an automated machine made up of electronic and mechanical parts; the electronic side is operated by software programmed to perform a specific task. The software may include a number of alternative routes which, in all circumstances, are pre-defined.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a complex software system whose purpose is that to mimic the human mind, with a difference: its thinking power may be stretched far beyond that of an intelligent single person. This has been possible thanks to two concurrent elements:

Human memory is limited while an electronic solid-state memory is not, at least theoretically;

A sort of electronic neurons and associated synapses known as “Central Processing Units (CPU)” are minuscule electronic chips capable of basic arithmetic; these chips can be stuck on end and connected in parallel to process trillions of operations per second.

This combination engenders a vast number of applications in real life, instigating a renewed consideration of all aspects of human behaviour, from Business and Industry, to the Humanities, Education down to Upbringing.

At the heart of AI systems lies their capacity to store (memorise) huge quantities of data in any form (numbers, words, images) and let the electronic brain (CPUs) combine the whole “knowledge” to arrive at the … best statistical meaning; nothing else than what the human brain does! With a difference: the AI system boasts a much better memory and replies in terms of seconds or minutes; a few hours are needed if the question is really complicate … like setting up a trip to Mars.

It would be wrong to define AI as a machine as the system exercises discretionary decision capacity given by complex mathematical algorithms which, in short, consist of the function to which the system is put to. Algorithms take account of the tasks and define the rules and alternatives to pursue a specific action; an action can be a simple answer based on acquired “experience” or can be one or more commands directed to robots. AI systems are given the basic instructions to acquire learning capacity; as with a pupil, the AI system is fed with pertinent information in accord to a specific specialization. The more information memorised, the more precise the suggestion or advice; the more knowledge is required to cover more domains, the more complex the system will be. As we talk about AI we should think of powerful computers with massive memory capacity often sat in several large databases anywhere in the World (Big Data); expensive systems that only large corporations or big Countries can fund.

As a new breed of software that is capable of learning without being explicitly pre-set, autonomous learning (and deep learning) can access, analyse, and find patterns in “Big Data” in a way that is beyond human capability.

Domains of applications are wide and cover more-or-less the professional domain, non-exhaustive examples being:

At the Harvard Medical School an “AI dermatologist” capable of spotting skin cancers at an early stage is already operating. If patients live far away they can send a good resolution photo of their part to examine and the system will do the job. Amazing indeed!

Among prominent European companies that have invested in AI I can remember SAP with their SAP Leonardo machine learning which is not the only one; Siemens, Volkswagen, PSA and Volvo are advanced in the automotive. Among American giants active in the field are Tesla self-driving cars, Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Google.

Details on about 1.6 million patients were provided to Google’s “DeepMind” division during the early stages of a medical trial last year. The information was used to develop and refine an alert, diagnosis and detection system to signal the risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI). The result of the trial was an app called ‘Streams’ (designed to help doctors to spot patients at risk of AKI).

You can have a taste of what AI is capable of by handing (copy & paste) one of your composite photos over to Google Image Recognition , the system will tell what the picture is about.

The hottest Industrial Revolution

Indeed it is. Certainly, after the Industrial Revolution of 19th century, the advent of cheap computers and Robotics of the sixties that concerned blue-collars, Artificial Intelligent Systems will touch, indeed it is already affecting, white-collars with and without cravat or tailleur if they are women. In their paper ‘The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’ (2011), Bostrom and the AI theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky argued that increasingly complex decision-making algorithms are both inevitable and desirable – so long as they remain transparent to inspection, predictable to those they govern, and robust against manipulation.

Ethical and moral issues are already proliferating:

“If my self-driving car is prepared to sacrifice my life in order to save multiple others, this principle should be made clear in advance together with its exact parameters. Society can then debate these, set a seal of approval (or not) on the results, and commence the next phase of iteration. I might or might not agree, but I can’t say I wasn’t warned”.

Impact of Digital Do It Yourself is a recent study funded by the European Union and led by several European Universities; the research team rings the bell about the impact on Education and Research: DIDIY has the potential to deeply affect education, well beyond what happened in the digital revolution.

School education must be entirely re-thought, both for pupils’ and students’ classes; mnemonic subjects must be condensed to give space to creative thinking capable of stimulating the individual brain; social science becomes important to promote distinctive group collaboration and encourage purpose. Spirit of innovation, invention and entrepreneurship become prominent already in the first years of school to prompt the future professional who must be ready to understand new business models based on sharing of knowledge and collaborative making in order to impel vision.

In his book “Emotional Intelligence” Daniel Goleman writes: “The human brain has not changed significantly since the Palaeolithic. AI will trick the Palaeolithic brain using new capacities at their disposal; system thinking comes to this”.

Who are the winners, who the losers?

Investment in education will set the divide; in fact, it has already set the divide among countries. If we only consider that the youth’s education spans 14-18 years while AI will become widespread in Business and Industry in just 5 years, it is easily understood that Countries advanced in education will have primacy; Countries who have lagged behind for political short-vision or possibly, for lack of economic resource will lag behind to become “robotised mass production areas”. I propose that a way for those Countries to catch up with time could be that to accept direct private financing by interested enterprises.

It is known by now that technological advancement runs faster than political bureaucracy; a recent example is given by Google-Deep-Mind division, a private enterprise that innocently replaced the NHS (British Health Authority) in their mission to enhance diagnostic techniques.

A non-recent statistic by Eurostat tells that the percentage of GDP invested in Education per student in 2011 was:

A bigger concern by far: to bring school education ahead with times, teachers and lecturers need be coached accordingly to acquire new conceptions which bear in them Psychology, Philosophy and indeed, rudiments of Informatics.

]]>https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/07/06/artificial-intelligence-between-wonder-and-pain/feed/4British Companies, Please hold on!https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/06/12/british-companies-please-hold-on/
https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/06/12/british-companies-please-hold-on/#respondMon, 12 Jun 2017 06:29:10 +0000http://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/?p=288» read more]]>Contrary to the gloominess pervading the British Establishment these days, British companies and the general public could not have expected a better scenario than that offered by the outcome of the recent elections. Yes, most Tories and part of the mature population may disagree, but those in the UK and EU who hold for prospering business and care for cooperative research with the help of younger generations are certainly relaxed; and this is true of the post-Brexit UK and the renovated EU.

For those like me, who have spent their entire career with one foot in the EU and the other in the UK, it is not difficult to be affectionate to both, and by that being able to look at the matter objectively, as if from a Space Station you assist to the European unfolding of facts.

The UK history and culture are undeniably different compared to that of Continental Europe; the British Empire, the Commonwealth, have modelled the English character with different accents on the way to manage business and to conceive Politics. That is why we should not consider the UK leaving the EU as an offence; the common house does not fit with a diverse vision of the future and searching for a new arrangement is, not only legitimate, but also an opportunity to rationalize and enhance the two European administrations.

It is apparent now, that British citizens and businesses are in favour of a soft Brexit arrangement of the EEA kind (European Economic Area) similar if not the same as Switzerland and – important – if that is the case then dealings in Brussels could unwind smoothly and speedily. Free-riding figures have been mentioned by the press about the “divorce fee”; first and foremost it is neither a divorce fee nor a penalty, it rather concerns a balance of dues and owes’ exercise and the Commission in Brussels has proposed to the UK to first agree on the computation methodology to then arrive to a figure. The Brügel Research Institute has estimated a figure ranging from 30 to 60 B. Euro.

We cannot miss to disclose, however, that the UK departure presents advantages to the future of the EU; British members of the European Parliament have often voted against the interests of the Union, especially in matters of advanced integration. An independent Britain will not contribute the presence of their parliamentarians to Brussels and concrete chances exist that the Union will be able to enhance integration among at least some of their members, possibly setting up a separate Eurozone Parliament.

Will Mrs May succeed in forming a new government with the help of the Northern Irish (DUP) Unionists? She may, in the hope that she has properly considered the potential unsettling of the fragile peace in the Area, especially when the EU economic support will cease. In alternative, would Cameron-2, if asked, sacrifice himself on the altar of the kingdom? A Corbyn government? Would he be prepared to expose the fragile success gained in last week elections?

In conclusion, British companies may defer their decision to set branch offices in Continental Europe assuming that eventual adherence to the common economic area will not cause increased duties. The above may not be true of banks, as the EU will insist in grounding the main EURO dealing market in its home soil.

Rumours have circulated yesterday 11 June that Boris Johnson is touted as an alternative to form a Tory Government; if it is not fake news then please disregard the title of this article.

]]>https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/06/12/british-companies-please-hold-on/feed/0A Fulminating Weddinghttps://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/01/10/a-fulminating-wedding/
https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/01/10/a-fulminating-wedding/#respondTue, 10 Jan 2017 13:35:32 +0000http://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/?p=282» read more]]>We have recently assisted to the hurried attempt by Movimento 5 Stelle and Alde to close a “convenience marriage” at the expense of common sense. We EU citizens must be grateful to them both; they gave us a rare opportunity (rare to the common citizen) to plunge our view into their character in crystal-clear sharpness.

Five-Stars, with their direct-democracy voting system made up of 40,000 adherents have voted at the tune of 70% for a deal resolved (in precedence) by their leader Mr Grillo; it is plausible to ask oneself if those people are actually adherents or they are rather fans. The fact that some 5-Star leaders have justified the “blind trust” shown by their supporters with the scarce or nil knowledge of “what Alde was” upholds the thesis that they are emotional fans rather than people voting in full consciousness.

Alde, on the other hand, evidenced Mr Verhofstadt’s significance for the EU Parliament presidency soon to be voted; in fact 5-Stars in Alde would have raised the number of votes for Mr Verhofstadt to win the chair. Today we know that he is (was?) looking for an easy-chair rather than a stool. But in opposition to the Italian Five-Star supporters, Alde’s Nomenclature has shown character and principles, having rejected the hypothesis of the Italian movement joining the Alliance. A vague premonition of Alde’s distrust for their President?

]]>https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2017/01/10/a-fulminating-wedding/feed/0Settling Down the British Stormhttps://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2016/07/03/settling-down-the-british-storm/
https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2016/07/03/settling-down-the-british-storm/#respondSun, 03 Jul 2016 20:43:53 +0000http://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/?p=275» read more]]>A dense dust does not last for a long time; as the soot fades out you begin to perceive a chaotic scenario, then the rubble becomes apparent and you start thinking of a supervisor advice.

In the case of the British referendum the “supervisor metaphor” is undoubtedly the Queen, this precise Queen, while the engineering body must necessarily be the diplomatic corps – not those political experts – as we have witnessed the dividing capabilities exerted by the prominent ones.

Amongst the vast number of solutions tabled down by the press about the question of “what next?” I wish to add my personal view, as someone who believes in the European project and who loves Britain to have roved the Country for decades while interviewing the business world.

Pragmatism is the policy dictated by consideration of the immediate and future practical consequences and my reasoning follows this path:

Allow Scotland to call a second referendum about remaining or leaving the UK in the shortest possible time ;

The Scottish will most likely leave the UK; Edinburgh and London agree upon amicable terms including the use of the Pound for a 12 years time span;

Great Britain then triggers art. 50 of the EU, 2 years for British-EU talks begin;

The EU agrees to the prospect of Britain re-applying to join after 10+2 years;

Scotland applies to join the EU on preset and preferential time span;

On the premise that Scotland decides to join the EU and within the two-year frame, British companies will have time to agree and channel commercial relations with the EU through Scotland, allowing for 12 years’ tariffs continuity with the EU;

Still within the two-years’ time frame (art. 50) Britain and the EU will arrange their political relations;

The EU would grant Britain faculty to re-apply for EU entry after a period of 12 years -since art. 50 date;

Scotland to embrace the Euro after the 12 years’ compact.

With goodwill and accomplished diplomacy by all parties, everything should go according to plan. At the end of 12 years’ time Britain would find itself reunited with Scotland inside the EU; Scotland would adopt the Euro (falling 12 years’ stint) while England would retain their Pound Sterling.

It is not a fad or a passing trend, nor the result of intrinsic infighting; just the opposite. If we examine the European history of last centuries we are portrayed with a great number of wars and bloody battles, mostly motivated by the impulse (caprice) to conquer new extended territories (read: political influence). Napoleon, Garibaldi, ….name them, where the strategists of military warfare and their objectives were geographical with no concern for the culture of populations; probably they did not even grasp the concept of the term, although the old Romans did, as they organised new-conquered territories by appointing local ‘administrators’ in the knowledge that a population managed by “one of them” was guarantee that people felt part of the Empire.

Along the years, people’s education improved as culture did, States became larger and relatively stable. Still, the Great War and World War II treaties defined borders according to gained military positions and in complete disregard to the culture of regional communities (East, West Germany, Berlin, North, South Tyrol, etc.). Culture, local communities, the human dimension were all elements not being part of military or political compromises, at least not the political weight deserved; the importance of territory was king.

Today we find ourselves in a globalised era, when products from every part of the Planet can be bought in any local supermarket and the tourist visiting a country, funnily, finds himself in trouble if thinking about a present to offer a host or a relative when back home; everything can be found everywhere!

Internet and electronic messages have washed away countries’ borders, physical as well as communication hurdles have crumbled; the topography of a country has lost importance while the sense of belonging to a community –a community with a specific culture – has increased in meaning. Old definitions such as “I am French, British, German….” have been replaced by the social identity: I am Basque, Scottish, Sicilian, Tyrolese, I am a cultural Christian, Secular Humanist, Secular Jewish and so the list goes.

Are separatist regions a pariah of the sacred boundary of a nation? No, not today in a federated Eurozone; in the same way as our regions invite villages and towns to reconsider their administrative boundaries more efficiently to promote economies of scale, our States should not be afraid to let regions behave likewise. In a reformed Eurozone I envision a federal parliament populated by a select number of national parliaments’ members preventing the duplication of functions ….and compensations; the Federation would only take responsibility for the currency and all aspects affecting the external world: diplomatic relations, the army and external trade. In a reformed Federal Europe the term “sacred” should only pertain to the human individual dignity.

Much has been written already about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a trade agreement currently in negotiation between the European Union and the United States of America. It entails a comprehensive product-specification and trade on equal terms between the two blocks. Well, for the sake of accuracy, between a Federation (the USA) and a Federation in the making. Many will argue that the EU is not a federation but rather a union, a few would prefer to call it a “common trade area”, some would not agree to any of those definitions.

Negotiations began in July 2013, under the former Barroso administration, in furtiveness as you would expect strategic defence meetings would be led, while the eighth round of negotiations has been completed a few weeks ago. Secrecy has been relaxed along the way and some Countries have put their feet down against potential trade dumping in specific industries, France obtained the exclusion of the Audiovisual sector and the the UK and US declared Financial Services off the table. Ms Malmström, incumbent EU Commissioner-designate for Trade, assured that all discussion papers have been made available to parliamentarians, made available online and negotiations are being pursued in complete openness today; the agreement is scheduled for completion by end 2015, then member countries will be called to ratify the act.

A few comments about the whole chronicle are opportune at this stage.

Supporters of the TTIP, proposed by the USA to the EU, suggest that the EU-US trade relationship, already the biggest in the world, is in the range of € 500bn, and trade expansion derived by this agreement would rocket to circa € 750 bn. However, talk about figures is irrelevant today given that we don’t know what is in and what out of the agreement. Nevertheless, we have ideas about the impact caused by the present wild globalization: vast loss of jobs caused by industry delocalizations and substantial increase in profits by multinational corporations; benefits that missed to seep through the wider economy causing individual poverty and the crisis we are witnessing in Europe. The danger of a worldwide interconnected economy is today under our eyes.

It is logical to assume that a 50% (or less) growth in trade between the US and EU, as estimated in force of the TTIP agreement (a honeyed word for unification), will be effected by those large and medium-sized companies able to support transatlantic marketing costs. Small local companies operating on a regional basis would have their prices undercut and the Mediterranean agricultural industry might see their tariff barriers removed with imaginable consequences. It is reasonable to expect that ensued competition will negatively impact local small companies in the Union causing a prolonged if not renovated crisis in Western Europe. As a consequence governments could be forced to reduce the “social welfare” to the level of the US in order to balance their budgets, swayed by increased unemployment.

Moreover, the agreement closed with Australia, Mexico etc. envisages that industry corporations who have invested in a country may sue that government if a new-introduced law goes against the investment done by that company. This article has been put on hold (frozen) for the EU; why frozen and not deleted?

A study by the Centre for Economic Policy Research suggests that EU households could see their average annual income increased by a max of € 500 ; but has the Trade Commissioner calculated the subsistence cost for those possibly losing their job?

Although plug & socket specifications have been set since years, the European Union has not succeeded yet in imposing their standard type among member countries; unlike in the US, TV channels cannot be seen in all member countries, some not even on subscription!

Mobile phones work still in roaming among countries while US users can subscribe to a flat rate for the whole Federation; motorway rates – where charged – are set on diverse criteria within the EU. Aren’t those the priorities in the European Union?

For what transpires, the TTIP agreement consists of the two “political subjects” submitting themselves to the same product specifications and trade rules governed by a unique judicial authority; a straitjacket useful to whom? Is the World Trade Organization, setting standards by product, no more a suitable option?

In terms of unification, the USA may succeed in Europe in what the EU has not succeeded since its inception.

]]>https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2015/02/22/ttip-yes-ttip-not/feed/0Nobel Laureates 2014, a missed ex-aequo.https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2014/10/14/nobel-laureates-2014-a-missed-ex-aequo/
https://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/2014/10/14/nobel-laureates-2014-a-missed-ex-aequo/#respondTue, 14 Oct 2014 12:15:49 +0000http://wishingoneurope.blogactiv.eu/?p=238» read more]]>Dr Jean Tirole has won the Nobel Prize for Economics having pursued studies centred on regulations suited to ex State monopolies, like Power supplies, Telecom, Gas, Banks…
Mr Tirole concludes that those sizable companies, once privatized, tend to accumulate excessive profits, often not decorously compatible with the community of citizens.
Hence the opportunity to legislate in a differentiate way, paying due regard to the potential excesses of a specific market segment.

However, we should ask ourselves if the privatization of utilities is the right way forward or rather, we should direct the glance (the study) toward a better management of State enterprises. If a State-managed utility is not efficient in administering its services to the members of the public it might need less politics and better management with adequate salaries. A political system that is not capable of managing its state-enterprises economically will, almost surely, waste as well a large proportion of the national budget.

Dr Thomas Piketty, another French economist, has achieved a research that demonstrates the diminishing growth of a country to the widening of salaries beyond a certain point. In other words, the excessive accumulation of wealth in a few, compared to the whole population of a country, causes a dwindling in the purchasing power of citizens, hence the diminishing income to the State. The difference in compensation along the professional ladder is positive to stimulate motivation but if this difference becomes excessive then the economic system misfires. The work is detailed in his book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, a bestseller applauded by most economists and some of the political elite but insubstantially criticised by the “financial nomenclature”. Is this the reason for a missed ex-aequo? Dear Mr Piketty, the 21st century has just begun and you might enjoy a full bounty in the near future.

As a citizen, the first impact experienced in recent elections was the impossibility to vote candidates belonging to different national parties while reunited under the same European party-family. Is this an issue? Yes, there is both a psychological and a rational reason for thinking so. A citizen with an European mind – especially a young Erasmus former scholar – places more importance to the prospective MP personality and his/her capability to fill the position rather than the national party the candidate belongs to; it stands to reason that the number of national parties is larger than the number of European groupings with the consequence that an MP may find himself cooperating with a colleague of slightly different political vision if seen on a national context, hence the rational aspect of the matter.

In future EU elections it would be worth considering the opportunity to attach candidacies directly to the European party-families enabling citizens, irrespective of their residence within the EU, to vote their preferred applicants; the non-elected would be facilitated in filling a national position. Besides increasing the chance to have more appropriate MP profiles at European level, the system presents the merit to involve the voter directly in the advancement of the Union.

A distortion occurred in recent elections enabled the Italian “Movimento 5 Stelle” to gain a significant 21% without mentioning the European family they would associate with; we know today that 5Stelle coalesces with the British UKIP, a far right party and hitherto considered xenophobic in the UK. Would 5Stelle’ supporters have chosen to vote this party if they knew the sequel and what the British thought of the UKIP? Undoubtedly, in casting their vote electors had in mind their home Country rather than the European Union!

I am aware that the scheme prospected above would suit well the federalists while it would be harshly rejected by the “sceptical”, here we come to the second lesson; the present Council presents a damaging dichotomy as it is split between Countries wishing to federate (the Euro-group) and those eager to stick to a Business Union, i.e. Great Britain, Norway, Denmark…..(I purposely avoided calling the latter a Trade-Union as this would include non-EU countries). Mr Cameron has wisely proposed that the Eurozone should have a separate budget from the whole Union; I have already proposed to go beyond, envisaging that the Eurozone should do well to have separate Chamber gatherings and possibly a dedicated Headquarters (Strasbourg?). This arrangement would consent speedy legislation in both assemblies and less bickering, besides, citizens would understand where they belong.

Prospective Commission President. The Constitution reads that the Council’s President, having given consideration (weight) to the ballot, will propose a name to the Parliament for election. Contrary to Mr Cameron argument alleging that not all have formally applied, the three leading candidates (Juncker, Verhofstadt and Schulz) have toured Europe (in person and on TV) to pronounce their agenda and shown their physical face to the voter; perhaps, one of a few events epitomizing the European nature of this election. Votes have been cast and we have a winner; heads of State are now divided about the right man for the job. Juncker, the winner, is considered too federalist while some countries, prone to a Business Union, would rather prefer a “less enthusiast euro-fan” and I would add, less known to the general public. Once more, the pressing concern for a Constitution’s amendment in favour of separate EU assemblies is great.

European elections are due next week and I took some time to review the list of candidates in parties I am interested in; one prominent, two smaller parties. I went down to browse through the various listings and found myself faced with a serious problem. How do I choose a candidate that I have never heard of or listened on the TV? As a model citizen I would be required to choose candidates according to their competence, something similar to when you scrutinize a candidate for a position in your company but the attempt is impossible, no way to come to a rational choice.

You may argue that TV channels are parading politicians all days at all times but no way! Most of the times those appearing on TV are party leaders, at least in Italy, while candidates for the EU are hidden, silent on the background. On top of that, discussions on talk-shows relate mostly to local national topics rather than the European Union.

The sensible approach then is to browse the internet in search of the candidate listings and click on their names in search for their curriculum vitae; vain attempt, among the thirty candidates reviewed only two shown their CV in parliament format, albeit partially filled. The bulk of candidates show their respective slogans, propaganda and video-declarations trying to entice viewers, say….emotionally. Does anyone have suggestions?